The struggles at the 3-point line continued for Iowa State on Saturday in a 73-60 loss to West Virginia in Morgantown.
Iowa State made just five of its 30 attempts from beyond the arc (16.7 percent) in a loss to a team it swept a season ago in three meetings.
“I don’t think there’s any question that this was the worst game of the season for us,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said on the Cyclone Radio Network. “You can’t play a game at this level and go 5-30 from the 3-point line and get outrebounded.”
“We only turned the ball over five times in the second half,” Fennelly said. “We took 30 three’s because they were collapsing. I would say 27 of them were wide-open shots and you go back to shoot-around today and we were making all of them.”
Ashley Joens finished the game with 17 points and nine boards, while Emily Ryan and Denae Fritz found their ways to double digits alongside her.
It, however, was not enough to overcome the 73 points West Virginia scored.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to compete at a level that gives us a chance,” Fennelly said. “It’s another game where – I don’t know what we’re doing different – but we fouled a lot again for the third straight game.”
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Cyclones, either.
“There’s six tough games left and they don’t get any tougher than Monday night at home,” Fennelly said.
Iowa State will face a quick turnaround before squaring up with Texas on Monday at Hilton Coliseum (6:00 p.m. ESPN2).
